CollaboKeys is a macOS Electron app that lets a group of people collaboratively share a single keyboard to play any game — together, in real time, over a local network. The host runs the desktop app on their Mac, shares a URL, and players join instantly from any browser without installing anything. Every keypress a player sends is emulated on the host machine as if they were sitting right at the keyboard. CollaboKeys was built for a hackathon centred on the theme Connection, where it placed 2nd out of 14 teams. It was made by @tinkerer9, @LethalShadowFlame, and @chickenlloyd.Documentation Index
Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/tinkerer9/collabokeys/llms.txt
Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
Key features
Play any keyboard game
Any game that uses only keyboard input is fair game — platformers, puzzle games, racing games, party games, and more.
Browser-based players
Players join from any modern browser on the local network. No app download, no plugin, no setup required on the player side.
No accounts needed
Players pick a username and start playing immediately. There is no registration, no login, and no third-party service involved.
Real-time input
Keypresses travel over Socket.IO and are emulated on the host machine with near-zero latency using a compiled C helper backed by CoreGraphics.
Open source
CollaboKeys is licensed under the GNU GPL v3. All source code is available on GitHub.
Admin controls
A built-in admin dashboard lets the host manage players, toggle key emulation, run server commands, and monitor live logs from any browser.
How it works
CollaboKeys splits into two distinct roles: the host and the players. The host runs the CollaboKeys Electron app on a Mac. When the app launches, it starts an HTTP/Socket.IO server and opens the admin dashboard athttp://localhost:<port>/admin. The host then shares their local network URL with everyone else.
Players open that URL in any modern browser. The player page is a lightweight web client that listens for keyboard events and forwards keydown and keyup events to the server over a persistent Socket.IO connection. The server receives each event, validates it, and passes the key to a small compiled C binary (src/emulate/helper) that uses the macOS CoreGraphics framework to inject a real keypress into whatever application is currently in focus on the host machine — exactly as though the host had pressed the key themselves.
The architecture means players never need to install anything, and the host never exposes remote-desktop access. Only keyboard events for keys that players have been assigned are forwarded, keeping the surface area small and predictable.
What makes CollaboKeys unique
Unlike screen-sharing or remote-desktop tools where one person drives at a time, CollaboKeys distributes ownership of the keyboard itself. Keys are claimed on a first-come, first-served basis: the first time a player presses any unclaimed key, that key is permanently reserved for them. After that, only they can press it — no other player’s keydown for that key will be emulated on the host. This creates genuinely chaotic cooperative gameplay. To beat a game, players must coordinate in real time using only the subset of keys each of them happens to own. Nobody can take over for someone else, and nobody can accidentally (or intentionally) press a key they don’t own. Every player is responsible for their slice of the keyboard, making even simple games feel surprisingly social.Requirements
| Role | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Host | macOS (required — key emulation uses CoreGraphics) |
| Host (build from source) | Node.js installed |
| Players | Any modern browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge) |
| Network | All participants on the same local network (LAN) |
Ready to install? Head to the Installation guide to download the DMG or build from source in under two minutes.